U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,507 shows a Y-connector for angioplasty in which a casing has an elongate main passageway for receiving a dilation catheter longitudinally therethrough and a branch passageway intersecting the main passageway. The angle between the main and the branch passageways is acute and faces proximately (faces the user). The proximal end of the branch passageway is connectable to a fluid valve structure. The proximal end of the main passageway is provided with a membrane having a small hole for receiving a dilation catheter and a Tuohy-Borst valve coaxial with and spaced from the membrane and for receiving the dilation catheter coaxially therethrough.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,752 discloses a surgical cannula having a central bore whose proximal end is enlarged radially to receive the seal member with a central hole and a further, axially spaced seal member having a central slit, all for insertion therethrough of a surgical instrument, for example an endoscope in sealed relation therethrough. The proximal end portion of the cannula is formed as an enlarged cup-shaped housing, to provide room for the above mentioned valves therein. The housing has a side extension extending at right angles from the instrument path through the cannula. The side extension has at its free end a pair of flanges disposed in diametrally opposed relation, each with a circularly curved outer surface. A cap with a screw threaded blind hole on one end cooperates with these flanges on the extension to form a screw on cap arrangement. Upon removal of the cap, access can be had to the surgical site through a bore on the extension and the instrument path through the cannula, whereby fluid may be introduced or removed with respect to the surgical site. The apparatus can serve simultaneously as both an instrument cannula and an irrigation cannula so long as the instrument being used is not so large as to close off the main instrument path to fluid flow, i.e., so that fluid can flow through the main instrument path in the space left between the instrument and the walls of such path.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,714 discloses a cannula for laparoscopic surgery comprising a housing and an elongated tube extending distally from the housing so that laparoscopic instruments can be passed through the housing and elongated tube into the abdominal cavity of a patient. The housing includes valve structure to close the proximal end of the passage whether or not a laparoscopic instrument is present in the cannula. A gas valve extends at right angles to the tube, at a location below the housing to admit gas through the tube into the abdominal cavity for insufflation of the abdomen. The valve structure in the housing is intended to prevent escape of such gas from the abdomen therepast, either with or without an instrument inserted down through the housing and tube.
However, none of these prior patents discloses a laparoscopy cannula having the structure and advantages of the present invention.
Accordingly, the objects and purposes of this invention include provision of a laparoscopic cannula in which a surgeon can simultaneously with one hand manipulate a laparoscopic instrument extending through a main passage of the inventive cannula into a surgical site and with the other hand manipulate a suction flow and irrigation flow with respect to the surgical site through the passage in which the laparoscopic instrument is moveable; and in which the surgeon can also maintain the position of the inventive cannula with respect to the patient by moving or maintaining the position of the suction irrigation handpiece.